He figured that he was right around five when he started glowing and being able to manipulate things with his mind. He kept it a secret because, even at five, he knew that other kids couldn't do what he did and he knew that that made him weird.
And not the good kind of weird.
When he knew that his mom and dad were busy, he would hide out in the upstairs bathroom and play. He would sit in front of the full-length mirror just to watch himself light up.
He reminded himself of a Christmas tree.
He knew that his mom knew something had changed in him. Not his dad so much- which didn't really surprise him all that much.
There were times that he had had to run away so his parents didn't see him light up. That got increasingly harder as he got older. The nosebleeds were difficult to explain as well.
Not to mention all the things that ended up broken after he had any kind of emotional high.
It was four years after he realized he was special that he was discovered.
"Kaidan!" his mother shouted from downstairs, causing him to accidentally drop a book mid-air. "Brian is here!"
Brian was one of his best-friends and Kaidan had been strongly considering letting him see his special powers.
He wondered if he was a superhero- like what he read in comics- and hoped that his friend would think so.
Kaidan bounded down the stairs and skidded to a stop at the bottom to avoid running into his dad. His father looked down at him suspiciously.
"What've you been into, Kaidan?" his father asked, his gray eyes looking his son over with a military-like stare.
"Nothing, dad," Kaidan sighed, shrugging. "Just reading."
His father shook his head disapprovingly. "You should be out with other kids your age," he muttered, walking away, "not in the house reading a book."
There was nothing that Kaidan did that his father approved of. It wasn't that his father didn't love him- Kaidan just wasn't what he expected in a son.
A few seconds later, he was leading Brian upstairs. After Kaidan shut the door to his room, he turned to his friend with a secretive smile on his face.
"I've got something neat to show you," Kaidan informed him conspiratorially.
Brian looked surprised as he sat aside the model he had brought over for the two of them to do together (it was Saturday, after all).
"What is it?"
"You gotta promise you won't tell anyone," Kaidan stated. "Not your parents, no one at school, not even your cat!"
Brian nodded "I promise!"
Kaidan smiled widely at his friend and focused completely on the model box. He focused hard, but not hard enough to make it explode (he'd had that happen a few times).
After a few seconds, he could feel the familiar tingle of blue electricity running over his skin. Kaidan heard Brian gasp, but ignored him. It took a few more seconds, but, soon, the box holding the model floated over to Brian and landed in his lap.
"That is so cool!" Brian exclaimed after the glow faded from around Kaidan. "You're magic!"
Well, he'd been hoping his friend would say a superhero, but being magical was cool too. He grinned at Brian. "Pretty neat, huh?"
Brian nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yeah, do me next."
That gave Kaidan pause. "What?"
"Make me float like the box!"
He had never tried anything so heavy before. He didn't know the extent of his glowing powers.
What would happen if he used them on something that was alive?
Would he hurt his friend?
Would he hurt himself?
Sometimes the stuff he tried to move exploded, did he have enough control not to explode his best friend?
It didn't matter. His friend didn't think he was a freak and that pushed away all thoughts of caution.
"Don't move. Stay still," he ordered.
Brian nodded, settling more comfortable on the floor. Kaidan took a few deep breaths, relaxing his mind. After a few moments, he focused on Brian. It wasn't as easy as lifting a box and he felt a pressure begin to build.
He ignored it.
It took a while, but the glow ended up covering Brian as well and he slowly lifted off the ground- his face beaming. The pressure continued to build, but Kaidan wouldn't give in.
In that moment, he was a superhero.
"Can you make me go higher?" Brian asked excitedly.
Kaidan focused a little harder to make him rise up further in the air. When Brian rotated a little in the air, he flung out his hands- a completely automatic response- and that was when things went bad.
Brian dropped a little and that startled Kaidan. Kaidan focused harder, forcing Brian higher towards the ceiling. The pressure was getting to be too much. He was stretching his abilities. He felt something drip out of his nose at a quick rate and knew that a nosebleed had started.
He couldn't just let Brian fall.
His vision was beginning to go blurry, but he focused on lowering his friend. He couldn't even tell Brian to stop moving- lest he completely lose concentration. He just had to trust that he could make it through the situation with both of them in one piece.
"Kaidan," he heard his mom from the other side of his door. Panic set in and he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop glowing until after Brian was down. The door to his room opened and his mother screamed at the top of her lungs.
Brian dropped to the ground painfully, but seemed not to be overly hurt. Kaidan could hear his father bounding up the stairs as he turned to look at his terrified mother.
"Mom…."
Kaidan's dad ran up next to his mother and took her shoulders in his hands. "What's wrong, Renee?" he demanded.
His mother shook her head, not looking away from her son. She managed to get a hand to her mouth. It seemed that Kaidan had managed to strike his mother speechless.
He self-consciously wiped away the blood that was leaking out of his nose and looked over to make sure that Brian was okay. As it was, Brian was rubbing his rear, but seemed to be fine otherwise.
"What the hell happened, Kaidan?" his father demanded.
He looked between his mother and father. What was he supposed to say? How could he name that which he had no name for? This would be even would be even worse that wanting to sit around and read books in the eyes of his father.
"I asked you a question, Kaidan Michael," his father growled.
There were no words.
Instead, Kaidan focused and lit up again, causing his mother to let out a small sound. He looked up helplessly at his father after he powered down.
"How long?" his father asked quietly. Surprisingly, he didn't sound angry. Just resigned…tired.
"Tony!" her mother gasped, pulling away from him.
"Around four years," Kaidan admitted.
His father turned to Brian. "We'll give you a ride home." He looked at Kaidan. "Shoes on, son, we're going to the hospital and get the bloody nose checked out."
Kaidan and his mother stared at his father, stunned. "Tony?" her mother asked.
"He's a biotic, Renee."
